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Almost immediately upon attaining his majority, Sebastian began plans for a great crusade against the Moroccans of FezThe word Fez can refer to: Fez, a type of hat. Fez, the name of a city in Morocco.. Philip II of SpainPhilip II of Spain ( May 21, 1527 September 13, 1598), King of Spain (r. 1556- 1598), Naples and Sicily (r. 1554- 1558), and Portugal, Philip II, the self-proclaimed leader of the Counter-Reformation, assumed the throne in 1556 with a great deal of potent refused to be party to the plan, and postponed Sebastian's imminent marriage to a Spanish princess. The Portuguese crusaders crossed into Morocco in 1578 and, against the advice of his commanders, Sebastian marched deep inland. At Alcazarquivir (Field of the Three Kings) the Portuguese were routed by Ahmed Mohammed of Fez , and Sebastian was almost certainly killed in battle or subsequently executed. But for the Portuguese people, he just disappeared.
He then passed into legend as a great Portuguese patriot - the " sleeping King" who would return to help Portugal in her darkest hour, like the British King Arthur or the German Frederick Barbarossa. In the time of Spanish occupation (1580-1640) three pretenders claimed to be King Sebastian, the last of whom - an Italian - was hanged in 1619.
Even as late as in 19th century, Sebastianist peasants in the Brazilian sertao believed that the king would return to help them against the "godless" Brazilian Republic (see Canudos for this rebellion). King Sebastian was a fragile boy, a result of marriages within the same family for many generations. For example, he only had four great-grandparents (instead of the normal 8), and four of them were descendents of King John I. There were cases of mad people in the family (his great-grandmother was Queen Joanna, the Mad). In the end, the dynasty of Avis, loved by the people, which guided Portugal to its Golden Era, killed itself by pursuing a dream: the peninsular union. The same complications from inbreeding caused the deaths of the children of John III and the madness and despair of his two grandsons (Sebastian and Charles), the last Avis- Habsburg princes.
| Preceded by: John III | King of Portugal | Succeeded by: Henry |